Exciting news out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where our friends and partners at Cafe Imports have announced that Kenya will be the destination for the company’s 2013 USBC Origin Trip. Cafe Imports will host all 6 United States regional barista champs, the USBC champ, and the winner of the 2013 World Barista Championship in Melbourne.
Sprudge.com spoke with Noah Namowicz of Cafe Imports, who passed along some deets to us:
“This is the third year we at Café Imports have been the official origin trip sponsor, and this experience has allowed us to meet some incredibly inspiring baristas, and allowed our producer partners to connect with the front lines of our industry in a way like never before. These trips have been more rewarding than we ever could have imagined.
This year, the 2013 Barista Champions will be accompanying Café Imports to KENYA!!!! The trip is tentatively planned for November 2013. Good luck to all the baristas competing this weekend at the Big Central Barista Competition, and congrats to Lem Butler for already securing the 1st spot. “
In addition to those fine folks, Cafe Imports will be bringing Your Sprudge Editors along for the ride to Kenya, which is an enormous and humbling opportunity for us and we’re pretty much beside ourselves over it. These origin trips serve as a powerful answer to the question, “Why should I compete in a barista competition?” We think there are lots and lots of reasons why you should compete in a barsita competition – cultural, personal, career – but seriously, if you win your region this year, you get to go to Kenya. That’s powerful stuff.
In the meantime, look for Sprudge.com’s coverage of the 2012 Cafe Imports Origin Trip to post live as it happens this March, when we’ll be joining 2012’s regional and national winners for a week-long origin tour of Costa Rica. Again, we’re humbled and amazed by the whole thing.
